Saturday Morning House Fire In Fairbury

Saturday morning, April 13, at approximately 9:27 a.m., Jefferson County 911 received a call that there was a fire under the eave of a house at 11th and Oak Streets in Fairbury.Fairbury Rural Fire Department (FRFD) arrived within three minutes of the page and confirmed there was a working fire on the rear of the house, near the electrical service entrance. Automatic mutual aid was requested from Jansen Rural Fire.Firefighters learned the fire had spread into the attic space of the residence, so a request was made for the aerial device to assist with roof operations. Also, due to the unknown status of the hydrants in that area, a water tender was requested from Fairbury and also from Diller Fire and Rescue as a backup water source. A defensive position was initiated until electrical service to the structure could be disconnected by City of Fairbury workers. Once utilities were secured, an interior offensive attack was made and the fire was knocked down within 25 minutes of the call. Ventilation holes were cut in the roof to allow the heat and smoke to escape the structure. Due to the quick knockdown of the flames, mutual aid from Diller Fire and Rescue was canceled. Firefighters continued to overhaul the fire area to ensure no hot spots remained.A total of 20 firefighters and five fire apparatus from Fairbury and Jansen were on scene for approximately two hours. The fire was contained to the attic space of the structure.There was limited water and smoke damage within the living area of the structure.According to Fairbury Fire Chief Judd Stewart, the cause of the fire was accidental in nature due to work being performed on the structure. No injuries were reported.Judd told FJN, “We were very fortunate that there were no injuries due to the nature of the work being performed when the fire started. We had a quick response and once we were able to attack the fire, we had a quick knockdown of the flames. FRFD would like to remind the residents of Fairbury, that when we have a structure fire, we will be connecting to hydrants in several different locations to ensure we are connecting to separate water mains so there may be street closures that extend several blocks beyond the area of the fire.“Please respect those closures so we don’t have damage done to our equipment or to your vehicle. It is a life safety issue when the supply lines to the engines get damaged so we will do everything we can to ensure that water supply is not interrupted.”

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